Talk:Debt settlement

Should this be a redirect?
Topgun9 06:57, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Topic: Should the article on debt settlement be a redirect to debt.
 * My opinion: The topic of debt settlement deserves its own article in wikipedia since its very different from debt consolidation. The current article on Debt does not explain what debt settlement is.

Johnjanney 08:58, 26 September 2006 (CST)
 * Debt settlement is definately different than debt consolidation, consumer credit counseling or bankruptcy.

The debt settlement article definitely deserves a page of its own and should not be confused with consolidation

Declaring COI
Hello everyone, I just registered for the first time, but have long been a reader and am familiar with most policies, especially WP:NPOV and WP:COI. I would like to declare my own COI before contributing to this article. I am currently employed by a debt settlement firm and as a result have opinions about debt relief that could be observed as biased. Furthermore, both because of my COI and since I am completely new to editing, I will refrain from editing the main article directly and will instead only participate in discussions on this talk page regarding debt settlement.

I do consider myself to be highly knowledgeable in regards to debt settlement, as well as many other forms of debt relief. I would like to position myself as a resource to the Wikipedia community, as much of the information on the Internet right now is written by biased parties from all sides of the debt relief industry.

I do intend to bring up certain discussions regarding the way the article is currently written in the near future; based on my knowledge of debt settlement, the current format is not written in an encyclopedic manner at all. There are also many claims that are not only unsourced (which is already tagged, I know), but completely incorrect and at many times inconsistent.

I look forward to contributing! Scyclical (talk) 21:35, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
 * If there's something that has been directly tagged for a reasonable period of time and you feel that it is incorrect, feel free to remove it. If you're adding something, it may be a very good idea to attribute to reliable source to avoid any future issues related to questionable prose. Oh, and welcome!   Kuru  talk  01:33, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I forgot I did this, so if anyone stumbles across this page wanting to know what happened to my contributions, I just wanted to let you know that I no longer work for a debt settlement firm. I am still in the world of finance however, and while I am not going to make a point to actively contribute to this article, anyone can feel free to ask me a question on either my talk page or on here, I'll keep an eye out. Scyclical (talk) 23:36, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Copyright issues
Large portions of this article can be found on pages elsewhere online. Someone needs to research which came first--that is, are they taking text from here and slapping their copyright on it (a bad idea, but not our problem) or are editors inserting text they've found online (a problem, and that text needs to be deleted). Some examples: Dori ❦ (Talk ❖ Contribs ❖ Review) ❦ 04:53, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * http://www.debtsettlement2009.com/faq/how-it-works.aspx
 * http://www.debtremedyofamerica.com/

Blanking of sourced material
I'm concerned that has repeatedly removed sourced material without any explanation. I've restored the material and will continue to do so if no valid rationale is provided for removing the sourced information. --Ronz (talk) 17:08, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Fee Structure and Settlement Opportunity Potential Article
has been edit-warring over the inclusion of http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/debtsettlementworkshop/536796-00040.pdf. This is a self-published article that fails WP:RS, so it is unsuitable for inclusion in the article.

In response to his comments on his talk page, I've updated the link to the "Testimony of Dr. Robert Manning before the FTC" article. As this has been his only stated concern with the article, I hope this has resolved his concerns. --Ronz (talk) 17:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Debt Settlement Vs. Debt Negotiation
I'm not sure that there should be a distinction between the two in the article. From the research I've done it appears that they are essentially one in the same. I suggest removing this distinction. Searchmaven (talk) 06:57, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed; if you look at Debt settlement, Debt negotiation, and Debt arbitration, there is clearly crossover and inconsistency. Unless there is some industry-standard delineation between the three terms, they should be merged into two or one articles, with the other titles converting to redirects. OhNo itsJamie  Talk 22:51, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Even IAPDA (The International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators) uses the terms interchangeably on their site: http://www.iapda.org/ "Debt settlement / debt arbitration is one of 2010’s top-rated career & business opportunities." I'm going to redirect the other two articles to this one. And make some adjustments to the content. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Searchmaven (talk • contribs) 22:59, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Debt resolution?
Very much a Newbie here. Spoke with [a company whose] program involves defaulting on current loans and paying in to escrow, which is used to pay out settlements as they negotiate them and as funds are available in escrow. They take 15% of initial debt package. Suggest including DEBT RESOLUTION as synonym for whichever of above terms it duplicates. I keep logging in, yet when I get back to the talk page it says "You are not currently logged in" so these comments get tagged with my IP address. Can't find any help resource or way to contact a live helper at Wikipedia. If someone can help me with this issue, either what I need to do to actually get logged in, or what I need to do to get my user name posted here instead of my IP address, please post comments here. Is tping four tildes supposed to activate my user name, or do I type four tildes THEN my user name??? I will check back71.197.218.159 (talk) 15:49, 27 August 2010 (UTC)User Name = INoItA112, 71.197.218.159 (talk) 15:49, 27 August 2010 (UTC)INoItA112
 * Hi, I set up a WP:REDIRECT for Debt resolution to point to Financial services, where there is a short definition of the term, which can mean several things. I took the liberty of removing from your post the name of a company claiming to provide this service.  All you need to do to sign a talk-page post is to use four tildes; when you save your post they will be replaced with your user name, or with your IP address if you are not logged on, and a timestamp. When you log in, do you check the box that says "Remember me (up to 30 days)"?  You can always get more help at WP:HELPDESK.  Cheers, CliffC (talk) 17:06, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 one external links on Debt settlement. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100602151345/http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/tsrdebtrelief/543670-00202.pdf to http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/tsrdebtrelief/543670-00202.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100204190809/http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov:80/press/news/2009/10/15/attorney_general_unveils_first_annual_report_debt_settlement_credit_counseling to http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/news/2009/10/15/attorney_general_unveils_first_annual_report_debt_settlement_credit_counseling
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120313165334/http://www.cambridge-credit.org/pdf/ftcopenletter12132010.pdf to http://www.cambridge-credit.org/pdf/ftcopenletter12132010.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111229181853/http://www.responsiblelending.org:80/other-consumer-loans/debt-settlement/research-analysis/the-debt-settlement-industry.html to http://www.responsiblelending.org/other-consumer-loans/debt-settlement/research-analysis/the-debt-settlement-industry.html

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Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:00, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Rollback to May 9 version
Sorry to pull the rug out from under you a bit, as it looks like you've put a considerable amount of work into rewriting this article, but I had to roll back the changes you've made since May 9. There were a few issues that affected almost the entire contribution:
 * The "lede" of the article was missing; there's supposed to be a paragraph or two before the beginning of the first section, to define the term and set context for readers. Instead, there was just the text "  inShare    Tweet " which was weird.
 * The opening phrase "Debt settlement is a great solution" is a red flag because it's expressing an opinion, or point of view. Neutral point of view is a foundational policy for the encyclopedia.
 * The first sentence of the next section "There are two ways to go about settling your debt." is an example of using the second person "you", which goes against the Manual of Style (see MOS:YOU). I'm actually running a program that detects this language and that's how I ended up looking at this article.
 * The first sentence of the next section "Only work with a debt settlement firm that does not charge up-front fees." raises another red flag because it's giving how-to advice. That's considered outside the scope of what an encyclopedia should contain, according to the What Wikipedia is not policy. (See WP:NOTHOWTO.)

The existing text is missing citations and seems a bit shaky in places, You mentioned on your user talk page you feel the article is biased against debt settlement in some places; certainly that concern should be addressed, but perhaps some smaller changes would be able to fix that while adhering to Wikipedia editorial policies and style. Thanks for your efforts! -- Beland (talk) 05:13, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for your feedback. I will make the edits and repost. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhorton2020 (talk • contribs) 09:16, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Conflict of interest
You mentioned in one of your edit summaries: "I am a certified debt specialist with Debt Advisor's of America." That means you have a significant personal financial interest in the subject of this article. According to Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline, you should refrain from editing such articles, and instead suggest changes on the talk page. -- Beland (talk) 03:18, 20 June 2020 (UTC)